There are many applications requiring controlled delivery of a medicament or viscous fluid while maintaining precise position control of the delivery needle to deliver a precise volume of fluid in a precise location. In many of these cases, the desired therapeutic effect is completely dependent on meeting all of these objectives.
In particular, during delivery of various fluids into a patient's body using a syringe and needle, it is generally desirable for a clinician to accurately position the tip of the needle, apply force to the syringe's plunger to develop desired flow of the therapeutic fluid, and control the flow rate of the fluid. For highly viscous fluids, the forces required to develop the fluid flow can be very high requiring significant hand strength on the part of the clinician. In most cases, fine position control is also required. Typical syringes are held and actuated at the end completely opposite to the end that discharges the fluid, which makes it difficult to maintain positional accuracy of the tip. Typically, the clinician uses the same hand to position the syringe that is used to develop and control the flow. Fine motor skills are preferred for controlling the position and flow rate, while gross motor skills are required for developing flow and maintaining flow rate in viscous materials, and, consequently, current syringe and needle systems compromise these skills.
Therefore, devices and methods for delivering fluids into a patient's body with increased precision and/or control would be useful.